Ransomware hackers strike the Singing River Health System

The Singing River Health System announced that a ransomware attack from last year had already compromised the data of nearly 900,000 individuals.

This Mississippi healthcare institution currently supervises the Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, Ocean Springs Hospital, and Singing River Gulfport Hospital, making the cybercriminal campaign one of last year’s most hostile hacking incidents.

 

A ransomware attack last year caused problems for the Singing River Health System.

 

The Singing River Health System explained that it had been infected by a ransomware attack in August 2023, which caused massive disruptions to its operations and facilities. The company’s research team initially suspected the attack had already resulted in data theft, which became apparent in the succeeding months.

The incident worsened after the healthcare organisation reported that the ransomware attack exfiltrated data from its systems the following month. However, the problem piled on after the company disclosed on December 18, 2023, that the malicious incident affected 252,890 individuals.

The most recent and apparently final update on the estimated number of exposed individuals came earlier this week, with the organisation reporting to the authorities that 895,204 suffered from the attack.

According to the latest information in the data breach report and the most recent update on the organisation’s website, the exposed data includes full names, dates of birth, physical addresses, Social Security Numbers (SSN), medical information, and health information.

Despite these issues, Singing River assured everyone that they have yet to find evidence of the threat actors using the data for identity theft or fraud. Furthermore, the company provided the potentially affected individuals with two-year credit monitoring and identity restoration services.

Currently, the Rhysida ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack, making it one of the most threatening cybercriminal organisations targeting the healthcare industry.

So far, the threat actors have exposed around 80% of the data they claim to have acquired from the Singing River, which allegedly included a catalogue of 420,766 files totalling 754 GB in size.

These threat actors will surely capitalise on these opportunities since the stolen data included details that can generate other illicit activities, such as phishing. Therefore, the recipients of the free credit card monitoring and identity restoration services should immediately apply it to avoid falling victim to such campaigns.